Two of KL's most prominent independent bands sit down with Adrian Yap CK to talk about the difficult journey to album number three

‘Three’ happens to be quite a significant number for local indie bands. Well as far as number of albums are concerned that is. The dreaded sophomore album gets plenty of press coverage, but it’s the elusive third that’s really the promise land for bands around these parts. Not many have been lucky enough to discover it, which makes prominent/veteran indie bands Couple and Seven Collar T-Shirt’s recent feat, all the sweeter.

Both KL-based bands recently released their third albums, with Seven Collar T-Shirt refining their angular and complex Radiohead-like rock rhythms on ‘The Great Battle’. In sonic contrast, Couple’s third album, ‘Pop Tak Masuk Radio’, is a collection of spiffy pop nuggets that can’t quite quit being catchy. But that’s not where the contrast ends.

Cause while Couple has briskly released their third album in as many years (the band released a few independent lo-fi albums but this will be their third proper release), Seven Collar T-Shirt’s third comes after a four-year gap since their last release ‘Drones’ (2004), while their debut ‘Freeway, Dreaming & Broke’ was released in 2002. The latest album title is hardly just a catchy tagline, ‘Very, very difficult, hence the album title,’ says guitarist Muhammad (more commonly known as Ham) when asked how difficult was it to get here. ‘Especially when you’re in Malaysia, it’s hard even to get your band members together. Everyone’s involved with their own personal lives’.

On that same note, Couple frontman Aidil Rusli’s take on the whole matter appears less labored, perhaps a reflection of the sunny pop he hawks so enthusiastically, ‘We’ve always strived to release something new every year or so. It helps keep things interesting and fun for us, the idea of working on and playing new tunes live,’ shares Aidil, whose band also consists of Ariana (guitars), Masrin (bass) and Shahrin (drums). ‘So getting to this third album just felt like another step in our journey for us.’

It’s a situation that frustrates Ham (his other band members include Saiful Ridzuan on vocals/guitars, Adil Ali on drums and Keng Lee on bass), who has seen many of his own favorite bands fade off without recording anything, but he was also quick to offer a humbling and blunt insight, ‘Perhaps they are not serious and passionate about their band. Cause if you love the music and have a passion for it, you will still be around, plugging away.’ But the reality is that as much as there are pockets of success stories around town, most bands do not run on full-time fuel. As mentioned earlier, many band members of fairly prominent and popular independent bands have to slave day jobs to pay for their glitzy nightlife. With such a noose hanging on your neck, it’s no wonder independent musicians often trade off their guitars for a briefcase after awhile. After all, the family needs to be fed.

But both bands have been ‘plugging away’, enduring painstaking journey through personnel changes (both bands have seen noticeable shifts in members since their inception), catastrophically bad shows and the at-times, unshakable dollar-sign to soldier on for the cause of their music. And there’s no silver-lining at the end of the war for bands like theirs, whose music will almost always titter between not being quite hip or mainstream enough to attract the money of good majors or serve a niche large enough to pay the bills. But even above that, Ham’s view is that record labels here have gotten their blueprints wrong, ‘If the major labels know how to market a band properly, we would sign with one. The problem with major labels and even indie labels in Malaysia is that they don’t know how to market a band, period,’ says Ham. ‘Sometimes it’s rewarding selling your soul to the devil, just ask Robert Johnson.’

‘The Great Battle’ is released by Laguna Music and is available at all record stores. Visit http://www.myspace.com/scts for more details. ‘Pop Tak Masuk Radio’ is available at all Couple shows or by post. Visit http://www.myspace.com/couple for more details.